GDTEA Chapter 132

Don’t Insult Him

Just as Ben’s fingertips were about to reach the hood, he suddenly withdrew his hand. Even if the face hidden beneath the hood was the one he’d been searching for, now was not the time. There were far too many eyes watching for him to confirm it out in the open like this.

Suppressing the impulse his sharp instincts were urging him toward, Ben turned away.

“If it really is the commander, he’ll signal me in some way.”

It would be best not to approach rashly and to maintain a reasonable distance. Finding ‘Leodelt Gwendhill’ was an urgent matter where not a single minute or second could be wasted, but more important than that was quietly securing the commander’s safety first.

“Sha—.”

“…….”

Ben turned his head at the familiar voice. The man presumed to be the commander was attending to the female doctor.

“Are you uncomfortable in any way?”

“We haven’t even set off yet. And the person I’m meant to be caring for is very kind.”

“That’s a relief. I was worried since it’s a long-distance journey.”

“But they say we won’t be traveling by carriage—will that be alright?”

“Walking isn’t that hard. Sha, you just need to stay in the carriage.”

“Then I’ll massage your legs every time we rest.”

“If you had hands to spare for that.”

“Hm?”

…..

Ben watched the man and woman holding hands cheerfully, then quickly climbed up into a tree.

‘The voice and build are identical…… but everything else is different.’

Ben had harbored hopes at the sword competition he’d entered after spotting someone with a similar build to the commander. Ben, who was considered dull, antisocial, and oblivious, was nonetheless the most skilled of the Gwendhill Grand Ducal House’s trio when it came to swordsmanship. Even just a brief moment would be enough. He could gauge an opponent’s skill the moment their swords clashed. All the more so if the opponent was a Sword Master.

Yet contrary to his hopes, the man he’d faced in the third round had been a mess.

‘His instincts are decent, but he’s a fool who swings his sword relying on nothing but his build.’

It wasn’t that injury had made his body sluggish, nor was he concealing anything. That chaotic, all-out swordsmanship was simply the full extent of the man’s ability.

‘He didn’t seem to recognize me either.’

Still, Ben couldn’t give up. The fact that the man was deliberately keeping his face hidden was suspicious, and he was the man that the information gathered since Bibanten Street had been pointing to. He had borrowed the identity of a senior mercenary and taken on suitable requests precisely in order to keep watch from close by.

‘Above all, the commander would never flirt with a woman like that.’

Ben’s face twisted as he watched the man called ‘Ren’ kiss the back of the woman’s hand and act coyishly. ‘Leodelt Gwendhill’ was indifferent to others and was someone who couldn’t mingle with people. His lips and brows had always been perfectly straight. Whenever anyone met ‘Leodelt Gwendhill’s’ eyes, they had always felt a chill run down the back of their neck.

But the man called ‘Ren’ and the woman called ‘Sha’ simply exchanged ordinary conversation and laughter, and appeared close.

“…….”

Ben drew the Grand Duke of Gwendhill’s sword, which he had kept hidden beneath his robe. He recalled the countless corpses of soldiers who had been publicly transported under the pretext of having executed traitors. Among them, the vassals and domain residents who had followed the Grand Ducal House had been the most numerous.

Grit……

The look in Ben’s eyes as he gripped the scabbard was fierce.

“The commander will kill them all.”

He would cover the graves of those who had died unjust deaths with the corpses of their enemies.

Ben climbed down from the tree upon hearing the call to set out. Whether ‘Ren’ or whatever else—this was the possibility of ‘Leodelt Gwendhill’ that he had desperately searched for and barely managed to grasp. Not once had Ben’s instincts ever been wrong.

****

The merchant group that they had joined thanks to the suspicious sword competition winner—a swordsman with light blue hair—was small in scale. However, since they would need to receive and replenish the group’s goods along the way, the number of cargo wagons was expected to increase, and since they would have to pass through treacherous areas at various points, securing manpower before departure was important relative to the number of cargo wagons.

That said, since it was a long-distance journey taking at least a month or more, there were few volunteers, and they’d had no choice but to supplement even the porters through the request office. Yet it was rare for anyone to accept long-distance journey requests taking at least a month or more, and the reason the request fee had been set high was along similar lines.

“I was especially worried because my health has been getting progressively worse.”

A pale-faced woman lying beneath a thick cotton quilt smiled faintly. The woman trembling beneath the blankets said she was the wife of the merchant group’s transport supervisor, and that she had joined because her husband couldn’t leave her home alone given her frail health.

“Still, it’s a relief that we managed to find a doctor just before departure like this. If we’d set off as we were, I’d have soon ended up as an inconvenient piece of baggage loaded onto that cargo wagon myself.”

The woman chuckled and tossed out the grim little joke playfully, and Sharti laughed awkwardly in response. She couldn’t bring herself to stop the woman who kept trying to make conversation even as she coughed.

“My husband is always busy, so I’ve always been lonely on my own—I’m happy to have someone to talk to now.”

From the moment the carriage set off, the woman’s condition as Sharti assessed it was dire. Even if one were to bring the medicines the Emperor himself brewed and drank, the woman before her would not live much longer.

“I noticed you were wearing a ring on your left ring finger, so I assumed you were married—but you’re traveling with your lover?”

“Yes.”

“How wonderful. It must be nothing but the most thrilling, joyful moments right now.”

The woman’s eyes grew distant, as if reminiscing about the past. Watching the woman recall a time that had existed for everyone and whose very memory was now growing hazy, Sharti hesitated before speaking.

“It’s not always like that.”

“Hm?”

“Sometimes even small things are upsetting, and there are times I get angry too.”

The woman burst out laughing at Sharti’s small grumble. Her gaze softened as though she were looking at a clumsy child.

“The best part of traveling is, of course, talking behind someone’s back.”

“…….”

That didn’t seem quite right, but Sharti simply smiled. Sometimes patients needed moments like these more than medicine. Small moments where one could simply laugh freely.

Clatter, clatter…… Rattle, rattle……

Upon arriving at a stream, the carriages momentarily came to a halt. The transport supervisor, who announced a brief rest, climbed down from the driver’s seat and dug at his ear, which had been itching the whole time.

“Did an insect get in……”

Just then, he spotted Ren pressing at his own ear in the same manner. Being near a stream, it seemed there were insects about.

Once the porters were also given a brief rest, Ren went straight to find Sharti.

“Sha—. Come out for a moment.”

After helping Sharti down from the carriage, Ren pointed up at the sky.

“The sky……?”

When she lifted her gaze, the crimson sunset spread across the sky, bleeding into her rose-colored eyes. It was a scene that even a painting could never fully capture. Without blinking once, she exhaled, and even her breath scattered as though drawn into the sunset. Taking the beautiful scenery into her heart made it flutter.

“Even though it’s the same sky, it always seems different every time.”

Sharti smiled toward Ren.

“Thank you, Ren.”

Ren curved up the corners of his lips as he tightened his grip on her hand, which had already been clasped in his.

‘The start of the journey was good.’

Repeating cycles of rest and travel like that, night came quickly. Upon entering forested terrain, the porters moved busily, setting up temporary tents and making places to sleep.

Having confirmed that the woman had fallen asleep, Sharti climbed down from the carriage and looked around.

“Hey, go gather some firewood.”

“I’m swamped!”

A small argument broke out over lighting the campfire, and Sharti quietly raised her hand.

“If you’re busy, I’ll go gather some.”

“Sure, why not. You’ve been cooped up in the carriage the whole time anyway, so you probably want some fresh air.”

At the urging to go quickly and return, Sharti headed straight into the dim forest.

‘Once the fire is lit, I won’t be able to move around, so I should gather medicinal herbs while I have the chance.’

Even just delaying the campfire by a little would be enough. It was an opportunity to collect medicinal herbs that grew in the eastern forest, especially poisonous ones.

While picking up branches to use as firewood and crouching down to gather medicinal and poisonous herbs, Sharti paused.

‘Human footprints?’

There were quite a few footprints visible between the blades of grass. Tilting her head as she studied the trampled patterns, Sharti wondered. The reason someone would be crouching hidden in a pitch-dark, empty forest was obvious enough. However, the size of the footprints was considerably small and dirtily stained.

“……Hm?”

“…….”

At a rustling sound, Sharti turned her head. Someone was hiding in the forest. And watching her, at that.

Gulp.

Sharti quietly rose to her feet and put her hand into her bag.

“Come out now.”

“…….”

“I’ll give you this.”

What Sharti pulled from her bag was a cheap candy the size of a fingernail that Tein had given her.

Rustle……

With the sound of grass being trodden again, a crowd of children appeared.

When she brought the ragged children back, the merchant group people promptly offered out the remaining food. As though they had been starving for a long time, the children began to eat ravenously. As it turned out, they were children who had fled from a small nearby domain.

“Ah, this sort of thing happens quite often.”

“Pardon?”

Having slipped briefly into the tent away from the campfire, Sharti was able to hear various accounts from the merchant group members gathered for the night shift rotation.

“They’re orphans who lost their parents in the war.”

“But why do they run away into forests like this?”

“Because they can’t afford to pay the domain taxes.”

“They collect taxes even from children that young?”

Sharti asked in surprise, and the people shrugged their shoulders.

“In large domains they don’t. If a family’s influence is great, they’d earn that much more money—why would they bother?”

“Orphanages cost a lot of money, so they only exist in large domains, and only families with considerable influence offer patronage.”

“On top of that, if someone dies in the war, they have to pay compensation—do you think the nobles would enjoy money coming straight out of their own pockets?”

The voices relaying the facts were light. Having already grown accustomed to these facts, there was no hesitation.

“…….”

Sharti and Ren fell silent. It was somehow a fresh shock to be reminded that not all nobles were like the Tower Master or Count Chelonar.

“What’s more, now that the war is over, they say every domain is raising taxes. Apparently notices have even come down to the merchant group’s side. That going forward, they’ll be collecting higher transit and trade taxes within their domains.”

“Why? The Empire won the war—shouldn’t they go down once it’s over?”

The Neweiton Empire, which had crossed its borders and won countless wars to expand its territory, had suffered little in the way of wartime damage. The Emperor of Neweiton had given all the war reparations extracted from the defeated nations to the Empire’s citizens who had participated in the war. And yet, the nobles were raising taxes separately?

“The Grand Duke of Gwendhill died, after all.”

“……!”

Sharti’s lips trembled imperceptibly, but only Ren noticed.

“With the sword and shield that protected the Imperial House gone, the nobles are trying to play king.”

“The Emperor must be quite the figurehead. To be pushed around by the nobles just because one person died.”

Ren brought over a blanket and draped it over Sharti’s shoulders, shielding her from the sight of the others.

“But to put it another way, the Grand Duke of Gwendhill never drove children like those out there to wander homeless just to line his own pockets.”

“…….”

“That’s right. Even with all the talk of the Grand Duke of Gwendhill’s treason and whatnot, a fair number of the Empire’s citizens still think of Gwendhill as a war hero. The Grand Duke had so many achievements.”

“Even so, he was a murderous fiend who swung his sword at children.”

No matter how many good words about Gwendhill he heard from these people, Ren didn’t forget what the general merchant had said. Above all, wasn’t this the man who had tried to burn Sharti to death?

Grit……

As Ren’s demeanor became ominous, the merchant group members quietly slipped away. Once the two were left alone in the wide tent, the tension drained from Sharti’s stiff shoulders. Ren silently knelt before her and gently clasped her hands.

“…….”

And outside the tent, Ben, who had been eavesdropping on the conversation, was in shock.

A murderous fiend.

To think that someone resembling ‘Leodelt Gwendhill’ would utter such a slander.

…..

The next day, Ben stopped Ren with an intense look in his eyes. Facing Ren, who was wearing an apron, Ben chewed on his lip before speaking.

“Don’t insult ‘Gwendhill.'”

“What?”

Thinking Ben was picking a fight out of nowhere, Ren frowned. He had already been displeased with Ben, who kept twitching his hand as if ready to pull off his hood at any given moment.

“I, no—I cannot stand the belittling of the Grand Duke of Gwendhill.”

“Belittling? Ah, the murderous fiend thing?”

“Watch. Your. Mouth.”

“Oh, so I shouldn’t speak ill of the dead? How laughable.”

Ren glared at him with a sidelong look. Ben was taken aback. Unable to see the expression, he nonetheless felt anger radiating from Ren.

“Why do you dislike the Grand Duke of Gwendhill so much?”

“Because he wronged my lover.”

“……!”